South African workers are some of the most hard-working in world, with discretionary effort levels double that of the global average, according to CEB (NYSE: CEB), a practice insight and technology company.

According to Bloomberg South Africa’s government is confident that its partnerships with business and labor can help it avert a credit-rating downgrade to junk, according to Jeff Radebe, Minister for Planning, Performance, Monitoring & Evaluation in the Presidency.

Business Day reports that the manufacturing sector in South Africa is on a downward slide, with the sector battling to compete with highly subsidised imports, a weak rand and unstable labour environment failing to mitigate the effects of incoherent government policy pandering to conflicting priorities at national level.

Despite labour unrest and poor economic growth hitting South Africa’s construction industry hard in 2014, a handful of companies, such as national developers Nu-Hold, have managed to defy the odds with robust growth.

If you’re running a small business, you might feel overwhelmed by the many regulatory bodies and requirements in South Africa. From labour laws and tax regulations to municipal bylaws, health and safety regulations and consumer protection laws, you’ll be spending a great deal of your time simply trying to comply with a range of legislative and regulatory demands.